Available at 
Tweet
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/he ... id=1096063
"Longtime chief of trauma surgery at Boston Medical Center Erwin Hirsch - credited with rescuing dozens if not hundreds of lives in the state’s busiest emergency room - died yesterday when his boat capsized off the coast of Maine, the Coast Guard and hospital administration said.
“If you ever needed to be cut open, this is the guy you wanted to do it,” said one veteran EMS worker. “Half of these kids are alive in the city because of him. He’s cracked more chests than any surgeon in Massachusetts.”
Hirsch, a Marblehead resident, was in a dinghy with another man rowing to a moored boat in Rockport Harbor, with plans to bring the boat from Maine to Marblehead, when the dinghy capsized.
According to a Coast Guard press release, a “good Samaritan” rescued Hirsch’s passenger from the 48-degree waters about 3:20 p.m. That person told rescuers there was a second person in the water. A Coast Guard boat crew found Hirsch unconscious in the water about 3:40 p.m. and started CPR. Hirsch was rushed to shore, then taken by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“I can confirm for you that our chief of trauma surgery has passed away,” said Maria Pantages, associate director of communications for the hospital. “As you can imagine, our staff is shocked and saddened by the news.”
Hirsch has worked at the hospital for 25 years. In addition to countless victims of Boston’s gang wars, Hirsch operated on Charles Stuart, the notorious murderer who killed his wife and unborn child, and shot himself in an effort to blame the crime on a mugger.
Hirsch, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, served one tour as a surgeon in Vietnam and two tours during Desert Storm and Desert Shield. In addition to his emergency room work, Hirsch amassed an impressive academic record.
He was a professor at Boston University, an instructor at Harvard University and lectured at Tufts University.
Hirsch, an avid sailor, was married with two grown children."
"Longtime chief of trauma surgery at Boston Medical Center Erwin Hirsch - credited with rescuing dozens if not hundreds of lives in the state’s busiest emergency room - died yesterday when his boat capsized off the coast of Maine, the Coast Guard and hospital administration said.
“If you ever needed to be cut open, this is the guy you wanted to do it,” said one veteran EMS worker. “Half of these kids are alive in the city because of him. He’s cracked more chests than any surgeon in Massachusetts.”
Hirsch, a Marblehead resident, was in a dinghy with another man rowing to a moored boat in Rockport Harbor, with plans to bring the boat from Maine to Marblehead, when the dinghy capsized.
According to a Coast Guard press release, a “good Samaritan” rescued Hirsch’s passenger from the 48-degree waters about 3:20 p.m. That person told rescuers there was a second person in the water. A Coast Guard boat crew found Hirsch unconscious in the water about 3:40 p.m. and started CPR. Hirsch was rushed to shore, then taken by ambulance to Penobscot Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
“I can confirm for you that our chief of trauma surgery has passed away,” said Maria Pantages, associate director of communications for the hospital. “As you can imagine, our staff is shocked and saddened by the news.”
Hirsch has worked at the hospital for 25 years. In addition to countless victims of Boston’s gang wars, Hirsch operated on Charles Stuart, the notorious murderer who killed his wife and unborn child, and shot himself in an effort to blame the crime on a mugger.
Hirsch, a retired captain in the U.S. Navy, served one tour as a surgeon in Vietnam and two tours during Desert Storm and Desert Shield. In addition to his emergency room work, Hirsch amassed an impressive academic record.
He was a professor at Boston University, an instructor at Harvard University and lectured at Tufts University.
Hirsch, an avid sailor, was married with two grown children."
Comment